‘We can bounce back from anywhere’

Azhar Ali knows the fickleness of Pakistan’s cricketing fortunes as well as anyone.

Back at the start of 2017, he was his country’s ODI captain. In his last one-day innings of 2016 he’d scored a century at almost a run a ball to seal a whitewash over the West Indies. By the end of January, three knocks and a heavy series defeat to Australia later, he was ousted not just from his leadership role but from the side altogether.

By the start of the Champions Trophy in June, he was back in the side, but though he started well personally, scoring 50 in his comeback knock, Pakistan began terribly, swatted aside by arch-rivals India. The rest, of course, is history, with Sarfaraz Ahmed leading a written-off team to the title.

 “It’s annoying for us to keep being unpredictable, but it’s true,” Azhar said. “We know we can bounce back from anywhere and that makes us dangerous.”